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Apple is Number One Laptop Supplier in Higher Education
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Here at DePaul University in Chicago, I typically more macs than PC's around campus. Most people have macbooks, but I have seen a few pro's as well.
It will be interesting to see ow this affects business computer buying choices in the coming years. As more and more Mac owners enter the workforce, will it influence the purchase of more Macs for business? My guess is that it will, but slowly.
Definitely have seen this change in my own school. When I started out college four years ago, I was all about the dell inspiron notebook. I couldn't wait to be able to afford something to replace it. When it came down to it, last summer, the Macbook won me over. I quickly "dragged down" my best friend with me and a week after I had gone back to school, we were going to the mail to pick up her new Macbook. Now I see so many Mac users in our library, I don't even bring my charger with me when I go. I'm bound to find a friend that will let me bum a charge if I need to.
Err, Macrumors.... didn't you at least listen to the webcast yourself, I think I came across the link to it here and it was probably the only comment that stood out among the others since it was new information that Apple had just found out Monday of that week.
Sebastian
Sebastian
At my small graduate school, there was one student with a Mac when I joined (me). Now, there are 36 out of 100, and there are many teachers considering buying Macs, even though our network (W2003 Servers) doesn't 'play nice' with Macs!
Most of my friends, if they haven't already bought a Mac, are thinking about getting one.
Most of my friends, if they haven't already bought a Mac, are thinking about getting one.
If Apple is so serious about using the iPhone in an education setting, what about adding 802.1x WIFI support?!
I'm going to assume this is a joke from the "lol"s as iWork + NeoOffice is more than enough compatibility for 99% of us university students. I planned on just using NeoOffice for my college career, but then discovered how pleasant iWork is to use. But really, for most students, I would feel very confident recommending NeoOffice. I know plenty of students here that use Linux as their primary OS, and they don't really have any choice but OpenOffice.org, and they don't seem to have any problems.
The real problem is department-specific software that's unique to that field is sometimes hard to find. As a Statistics student, I'm very glad that R has a Mac version (and it's actually better than the Windows version, from what I've used of the Windows version), but sadly I have to run Windows through Fusion to run SAS, which is no longer developed for OS X.
This isn't just because of a great product. Apple has worked hard to make these gains. I assume they still have their campus rep program where they hire students to make the rounds on campus.
While going to school, I worked about 15 (they didn't pay for more) hours a week at my University for Apple. There was a regional higher ed rep that coordinated all of us local reps (you had to be a student at the university), and we were the eyes and ears of the regional rep. We really focused more on faculty purchases more than students, allthough we would go to tech fairs, etc. Anytime we heard from faculty that a lab was going in, or a big purchase was to be made we contacted our regional rep.
It was a pretty cool job for a student, and a smart move by Apple.
While going to school, I worked about 15 (they didn't pay for more) hours a week at my University for Apple. There was a regional higher ed rep that coordinated all of us local reps (you had to be a student at the university), and we were the eyes and ears of the regional rep. We really focused more on faculty purchases more than students, allthough we would go to tech fairs, etc. Anytime we heard from faculty that a lab was going in, or a big purchase was to be made we contacted our regional rep.
It was a pretty cool job for a student, and a smart move by Apple.
no its not, maybe an an individual, its doable with iwork or neooffice, but as department purchase, its not doable in most campuses.
Holy **** where can I sign up??
I've been doing that for them for free! I don't think they do this at my university, but I'd sure like a job doing that...
Then I'm sure you would be right. I was under the impression we were referring to more individual students making the switch, though, not departmental purchases.
The comments here make Baby Jesus cry because, as has been pointed out...
1) Apple is already the leading educational supplier in Europe, however 85% or so of laptops are still Windows based.
2) Cook's figure is meaningless unless he reveals data because Dell has been haemorrhaging market share at an unholy rate to both Apple and its Windows based competitors.
Now if someone would be so kind as to publish the actual figures we could mabe get some perspective here. I have no doubt Apple's share has increased but I would like to know by how much.
1) Apple is already the leading educational supplier in Europe, however 85% or so of laptops are still Windows based.
2) Cook's figure is meaningless unless he reveals data because Dell has been haemorrhaging market share at an unholy rate to both Apple and its Windows based competitors.
Now if someone would be so kind as to publish the actual figures we could mabe get some perspective here. I have no doubt Apple's share has increased but I would like to know by how much.
I think that University numbers will increase by a lot more in about 2 years. When my class went of to college (2006) the intel macs really made it so much easier for people to decide to get a mac, and I would say probably around 20% did. I know that those 20% are just talking them up and I know at least a dozen people that I have talked to personally say that their next computer will be a Mac. All of these people will be purchasing in 1-2 years.
My friend is doing that now at my school and they've completely shifted viewpoints from what it seems. I haven't heard him talk at all about pushing faculty purchases. They have the reps attend as many student related functions as possible.
I would have to agree with this. Just a quick look around the campus center (student union) at my engineering school and you see mac after mac. I've been here for six years (undergrad, now finishing my MS) and the change has been dramatic. And the spectrum of users is just as dramatic. You'll see the kids that play with capes and foam swords have Macs as well as the popped-collar fraternity/sorority folks. 
I'm not surprised. I cannot tell you how many (high school) students of mine end up getting a mac of some sort (mainly laptops) after taking one my digital arts computer classes. Apple's brand recognition from an early age is working.
I'm sure it helps that I am a HUGE Apple fan, but if they are introduced to Macs at the high school level, they'll likely buy one when it's time to get their own in college.
I can just imagine Steve Job reading this in his corporate office a-la Mr. Burns....."Exxxxceeeellleeennntt....."
I'm sure it helps that I am a HUGE Apple fan, but if they are introduced to Macs at the high school level, they'll likely buy one when it's time to get their own in college.
I can just imagine Steve Job reading this in his corporate office a-la Mr. Burns....."Exxxxceeeellleeennntt....."
Get em while they're young eh 
Seriously, excellent news though. Congratulations to
This will spread madly in the next few years as these kids start to get into the real world and spread it out even further. As many of us know...once you go Mac, you don't go back!
Seriously, excellent news though. Congratulations to
This will spread madly in the next few years as these kids start to get into the real world and spread it out even further. As many of us know...once you go Mac, you don't go back!
I feel like you could attribute some of it to more apple stores, and more iPods.
In my 2nd year of college, I needed a laptop to replace my Dell Desktop. I was serious about buying an Alienware, but I decided to hit up CompUSA to see if the Sonys were all that great.
After playing around with the Sony laptops for about an hour, I decided to stop by the apple area real quick to see what they had over there. Seeing a 17in Powerbook G4 hooked up to a 23 inch screen, I was in love.
Thinner than any of the other laptops I looked at... cool features, clean look.
I even played around with it, under the impression of: Well, my iPod is amazing, I wonder how the OS is on this.
Love.
Having more iPods out there gives people the mentality that "Maybe their computers are good too."
Opening more retail stores allows people to see how much cleaner OS-X is than windows.
More people owning macs and testifying for them doesn't hurt either.
I know there are a lot of Windows lovers out there, but I'm pretty confident that we'll be seeing far more people buying macs soon. I know many people who are "Going to buy a Mac Next" but are just waiting for their PC to die, or for funds to increase.
If Apple keeps up the good work, and fixes a few corporate quirks (STAY TRUE TO YOUR PROMISES!) they'll have much more saturation in the market
In my 2nd year of college, I needed a laptop to replace my Dell Desktop. I was serious about buying an Alienware, but I decided to hit up CompUSA to see if the Sonys were all that great.
After playing around with the Sony laptops for about an hour, I decided to stop by the apple area real quick to see what they had over there. Seeing a 17in Powerbook G4 hooked up to a 23 inch screen, I was in love.
Thinner than any of the other laptops I looked at... cool features, clean look.
I even played around with it, under the impression of: Well, my iPod is amazing, I wonder how the OS is on this.
Love.
Having more iPods out there gives people the mentality that "Maybe their computers are good too."
Opening more retail stores allows people to see how much cleaner OS-X is than windows.
More people owning macs and testifying for them doesn't hurt either.
I know there are a lot of Windows lovers out there, but I'm pretty confident that we'll be seeing far more people buying macs soon. I know many people who are "Going to buy a Mac Next" but are just waiting for their PC to die, or for funds to increase.
If Apple keeps up the good work, and fixes a few corporate quirks (STAY TRUE TO YOUR PROMISES!) they'll have much more saturation in the market